1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for concentrating and amplifying nucleic acid in a single micro chamber.
2. Description of the Related Art
The production of high purity double-stranded plasmid DNAs, single-stranded phage DNAs, chromosomal DNAs, and agarose gel-purified DNA fragments is very important in molecular biology. Ideal methods of purifying DNAs should be simple and quick, and include little additional manipulation of samples. DNAs obtained using such methods can be used for direct transformation, restriction enzyme analysis, ligation, or sequencing. Such methods are very attractive in the automated production of DNA samples, which is favored in research and diagnosis labs.
Conventionally, a method of purifying nucleic acid using a solid phase is known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,809 discloses a method of purifying nucleic acid using a solid phase to which nucleic acids are bound, the method including: mixing a starting material, a chaotropic (i.e., water-disrupting) material, and a nucleic acid binding solid phase; separating the solid phase with the nucleic acid bound thereto from the liquid, and washing the solid phase nucleic acid complexes. However, this method is time consuming and complicated, and thus is not suitable for a Lab-On-a-Chip (“LOC”) devices and applications. The method also has a problem in that a chaotropic material must be used.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,291,166 discloses a method of archiving nucleic acid using a solid-phase matrix. This method is advantageous in that since nucleic acids are irreversibly bound to a solid-phase matrix, delayed analysis or repeated analysis of the nucleic acid solid-phase matrix complex after storage is possible. However, according to this method, alumina, which has a positively charged surface, is rendered hydrophilic by addition of basic materials, such as NaOH. Nucleic acids are irreversibly bound to the hydrophilic alumina, and thus cannot be separated from the alumina. Accordingly, the method suffers in that Polymerase Chain Reaction (“PCR”) yield is low in the solid-phase matrix to which DNA is are irreversibly bound.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,383,783 discloses a method of isolating nucleic acid from a sample, the method including: introducing a sample containing target nucleic acids on a hydrophobic organic polymer solid-phase in order to attach a target nucleic acid to a solid-phase; and adding a non-ionic surfactant to the solid-phase and removing the attached target nucleic acid. However, while nucleic acids are separated using a hydrophobic solid-phase in the conventional method, it is desirable to perform additional steps in the presence of the separated nucleic acid.